Why Delta Air plane tripped over in Toronto

A Delta Air Lines jet crashed Monday during a fiery landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport, skidding down the tarmac before coming to a stop while flipped upside down.

The dramatic scene, captured on video by air traffic controllers and, later, the passengers on board, left 21 people injured — two critically.

What caused it remains under investigation by the Canadian Transportation Safety Board, which said Tuesday that the aircraft’s black boxes have been recovered, and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration.

Delta Air Lines Flight 4819 departed Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in Minnesota on Monday morning, carrying 76 passengers and four crew members.

The plane, operated by Minneapolis-based Delta Air Lines subsidiary Endeavor Air, struck the landing strip as it arrived at Toronto Airport at about 1:15 p.m. CST, according to Delta. Images and video of the accident showed the CRJ-900 aircraft catch fire when it hit the pavement and proceeded to turn sideways while sliding across the airfield, losing its tail and both wings along the way.

It eventually flipped over and came to a halt. Passengers on the plane have since described hanging upside down, suspended by their fastened seatbelts, with one person recalling how he “crashed down onto the ceiling, which had become the floor” after unbuckling.

Emergency teams rushed to the site of the crash, extinguishing the blaze and then evacuating the passengers who were still inside. At a news conference Tuesday, Toronto International Airport president and CEO Deborah Flint praised the Delta flight crew and emergency workers at the airport for launching a “textbook response” to the accident “within minutes.”

“The crew of Delta Flight 4819 heroically led passengers to safety, evacuating a jet that had overturned on the runway on landing that was amidst smoke and fire,” Flint said. “Thank you for all that you do every day and every night in service of safe air travel.”

Delta CEO, Ed Bastian, also commended the flight crew and their swift evacuation, calling the circumstances “horrifying” in an interview Wednesday on CBS Mornings.

All 80 passengers and crew members on the Delta flight survived the crash. Emergency responders and the flight crew themselves ushered passengers down the aisle of the overturned jet and helped evacuate them through an emergency exit door. More footage from the crash showed passengers climbing out of the aircraft and stepping out onto a snowy tarmac, where powerful winds whipped past.

Officials originally reported that 19 people suffered injuries in the accident, but the number was revised up to 21 between Monday and Tuesday. Flint said 19 people were taken to hospitals in the area for medical treatment immediately after the crash, and two more were admitted later on.

Corey Tkatch, commander of operations for Peel Regional Paramedic Services, said some people suffered back sprains, head injuries, anxiety and “nausea and vomiting due to the fuel exposure.”

Evacuees from the plane crash were met with harsh wintry conditions when they exited the airfield, with one person likening the environment to tundra weather. Snow and ice coated the tarmac, and powerful, blustery winds could be seen on video.

Meteorologists said Toronto was experiencing blowing snow when the accident occurred, and visibility had been reduced to six miles. Winds were gusting up to 37 miles per hour and temperatures dropped far below freezing to just 17 degrees Fahrenheit.

But Toronto International Airport Fire Chief, Todd Aitken, said Monday that the airport runway was dry at the time of the crash, and there were no crosswind conditions as the Delta flight arrived.

Bastian said that the flight crew was an experienced group familiar with Toronto’s intense winter weather.

“All these pilots train for these conditions,” Bastian said. “We train for this continuously.”